NOTTINGHAM’S ONLY INDEPENDENT

VOLUNTEER RUN HIV PEER SUPPORT GROUP

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REGISTERED CHARITY 1129416

 © Tagadere

Registered Charity 1129416

November 2009

Tagadere invited to attend London HIV conference

On 27th November two of the Tagadere trustees travelled to London for the specialist HIV Conference ‘What Do People Living With HIV Need Now?’ which was held at The Friends House on Euston Road, NW1.

Our presence at such an event was remarked upon by many of the professional attendees who were impressed that Tagadere is an HIV support group totally run by volunteer service users.  We lost count of the times we were asked ‘How do service users actually get organised to run such a thing?!’ Another frequently-asked question was ‘How are you allowed to do such a thing as service users?’  This seemed to intimate that HIV positive people are incapable of any kind of self help motivation. Our reply was that we were not ‘allowed’ to do anything but by self-empowerment and enthusiasm that we just got on with it and did it because it needed doing!

We were congratulated on the fact that we run a weekly drop-in and ‘one stop shop’ to which we invite professional HIV workers to attend; a list including the HIV Specialist Social Worker, HIV Specialist Nurse, HIV Specialist Dietitian and a host of HIV Specific Housing & Benefits Support Workers.

Tagadere certainly made an impression and left many people saying that they would contact us for advice on ‘how to do it’!

August 2009

Tagadere in print: ‘Tagadere moves forward.’

We received a request to supply an article for The Partnership Press which we have reproduced here:

 

Tagadere, Nottingham’s HIV Self-Help group is moving on at a steady speed.  In recent months we have moved to new premises slightly out of the city centre, located opposite working allotments.  We have an outdoor space with barbecue facilities which is invaluable in providing somewhere for members to have a pleasant, relaxing space with a view over the gardens.

 

The facilities also include a separate office for one-to-one meetings, disabled toilets and a dedicated and well-equipped play room for children which is highly useful as the number of ladies with children attending Drop-In has increased quite rapidly over the past few months. 

 

The price of renting the premises is substantially smaller than that of the old one, thus enabling us to provide a free weekly meal which caters for around thirty people.  Our culinary adventures are cooked by members of the group and range from traditional English fish & chips to African, Portuguese and Jamaican food.  Using volunteers from local catering colleges for additional help is an avenue which we are exploring.

 

The opening day for the new Drop-in was very successful with over fifty people attending, including members from Derby Positive Support and Faith In People from Leicester, who came over to join in the celebrations.  A catering firm was employed to provide a substantial buffet lunch which was enjoyed by all. 

 

The icing on the cake was that on the day of the opening we discovered that we had been granted Charitable Status which is a great advancement.

 

Our aim is to obtain permanent premises for Tagadere and remain locally based, independent and to continue offering services at a grass-roots level whilst concurrently liaising with other HIV groups.

 

The Working Party consisting of John, Simon, Morgan and Richard have been working closely with Derby Positive Support and Sheffield SHIELD to learn from their experiences and to discuss how Tagadere’s services can be improved and expanded.  Visits to both groups’ premises have been made recently.  Also, invaluable help has been provided over many meetings with Nottingham Self-Help and Nottingham CVS.

 

As well as having Housing Specific Support Workers from Metropolitan Support Trust at each meeting, Tagadere offers exclusive Social Work Support from Joy Rushton, plus the HIV Specialist Nurse in attendance every week and also a dietician from Nottingham City Hospital.  A laptop computer with internet access is available to enable group members to use the internet for help in a variety of needs.

 

Excursions are being planned for the coming months, the first being a cruise along the Ashby canal in Leicestershire with all places having been filled as soon as it was announced.

 

Tagadere are working with The Hardship Fund in organising the tenth Walking For Life event on 22 August at Attenborough Nature Reserve.  The Working Party presented Armorel Young with a bouquet and a gift as thanks for her voluntary work in fundraising over the past years since the creation of The Hardship Fund.  All in all it is a very productive, exciting, exhausting and rewarding time for Tagadere.

May 2009

Charitable Status for Tagadere

On the day when Tagadere launched the new drop-in, we received notification that we had been approved to become a Registered Charity.

This means that 6th May 2009 will be forever remembered for two monumental moments in the history of Tagadere.

Tagadere’s new weekly drop-in arrives!

On 6th May 2009 and with considerable pride we opened the doors of the premises which we are now hiring to home to our weekly drop-in.

Empowered as the new totally user-led and volunteer operated Tagadere we decided that the previous location was too expensive and realised that it had become somewhat lacking in confidentiality when we realised that an increasing number of people not from the HIV community appeared to be dropping in uninvited to attend to a variety of issues.

We are rather sad to leave the old premises as it adds to the slightly Nomadic existence of an HIV drop-in facility for Nottingham and as a city centre location it proved to be an easily accessible location.

With the formation of the ‘new’ Tagadere operated by HIV positive people we had to prioritise our spending. Unfortunately the rental became prohibitive which meant that we had to locate and secure an alternative meeting place in order to continue providing Nottingham’s HIV community with a safe and supportive environment in which to meet socially and also access professional health and support workers in a non-clinic situation.

After myriad suggestions had been put forward we finally decided on one community centre which seemed to fit our needs and ticked all of the right boxes on our list of what we would like.

Obviously we consulted with each other and eventually a Tagadere convoy of cars went to visit the potential new premises.  With not too much of a fanfare but with immense pleasure we began the next stage of Tagadere.

There is a certain amount of sadness in leaving the old premises; memories abound of people and names from the past; some sadly no longer with us but we have to be positive about living in our present and moving into our future as a community group for local HIV positive people and doing what we consider to be democratically beneficial.

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